SPRING NOTES: Giants checking with Romo after long ninth; The first round of cuts

The Giants were on a bus back from a game in Goodyear when Sergio Romo took the mound for Team Mexico on Thursday, but they weren’t thrilled with the updates they were getting. Romo threw 26 pitches, a high amount for him at any time of the season, nonetheless on March 7 while he’s pitching for someone else.

Manager Bruce Bochy said Romo’s pitch count was a big part of the discussion during a staff meeting in the morning, and Bochy was attempting to reach out to Romo to “see how he came out of it.”

It’s not hard to see why the Giants were concerned about the high pitch count. Romo threw more than 24 pitches just twice last season; he threw 27 during his first outing of the year and then — thanks to Jay Bruce — threw 35 pitches in Game 5 of the NLCS NLDS.

Mexico lost to Italy on Thursday and faces Team USA on Friday. Bochy has said in the past that he will closely watch Romo’s workload this season, his first as the full-time closer, but there’s not much the Giants can do tonight. Romo didn’t reach the limit (30 pitches) that would keep him out of tonight’s game by WBC rules.
— The Giants made several moves this morning. Andrew Susac (and his new mohawk), Joe Panik, Jose Valdez, Fabio Castillo, Edward Concepcion, Josh Osich and Justin Fitzgerald were all sent down to minor league camp. Angel Villalona was optioned to San Jose’s roster. Villalona likely will begin the season back in San Jose, but the Giants haven’t ruled out a promotion to Double-A.

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The rest of the guys could really use the extra reps. Susac has again impressed coaches but he usually doesn’t get into games until the last couple of innings, and hasn’t gotten many at-bats. Panik had some hamstring tightness that kept him out for a couple of weeks and there aren’t many middle infield at-bats to go around right now with so many veterans fighting for the last backup job.

Starting pitchers will start getting stretched out, so this is a chance for the pitchers on the list to go down and get some work in. Fitzgerald’s most significant action of the spring came Wednesday, when he was loaned to Team Mexico to help fill innings during an exhibition. He said he got to keep his cap, but the experience did come with a bit of disappointment: Fitzgerald pitched two shutout frames, but was put into the game one inning too late to face Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier.

— After a morning of rain, the tarp is off the field here. Looks like we’ll have some baseball after all. (UPDATE: Two minutes after I posted this, the rain came back.)

I’m worried about Romo. The guy has a lot of nagging injuries. Please stay off the DL.

brabon99

bums are serious about today’s game, got the a squad in

i think the org needs to have a chat with the mexican manager…romo needs to be kept on a strict pitch count for as long as mexico remains in the wbc…which may not be much longer

stickman

Romo does have a soft spot for his ancestral homeland. Hope it works out and no harm done. Giants have a couple other guys who can close out games, but Sergio is the only killer closer.

Zak

Unbelievable that Angel Villalona–with all the action around him–is still only 22.

Regarding Romo i have to believe he wasn’t throwing as many sliders as he would in an mlb game, knowing how young the season is, it’s just unwise. For that matter i don’t see how relievers that rely on specialty pitches such as the slider are tapped for such select roles in the WBC. Grilli could barely control his fastball with all the adrenalin pumping, he was able to just hump up the velocity but he almost walked in the tying run. If Cantu doesn’t help him out 3-1 by fouling it off he might’ve been able to save the game for Mexico.

channelclemente

I’m not sure if this is a homage to CluthUp or a message to Foothills.

Well, at least I’m not the only one concerned about Romo throwing 26 pitches yesterday.

channelclemente

This year and ST is starting like 2011 and that stupid Showtime (?) idiocy.

South City Jim

Should be a nice 3-4 inning test for Zito today.

Foothills Ryan

You’re a video game, CC.

channelclemente

Foothills,

Arrow to the heart, Let it Bleed, how’s the hangover?

Anti-Lasorda

We stab them with their Steely knives, but we just can’t kill the beast……

Foothills Ryan

Sergio had a great run in 2012 as the closer down the stretch, and he has tremendous stats to back up his elite reliever credentials. However, I don’t see him as a “killer closer”. He still needs to be handled with gloves. Killer closers come in night after night and get the job done in spite of tired arms or not having their best stuff. Brian Wilson was tough guy closer. Rob Nenn was a Killer Closer. The 26 pitch inning was a stretch for Romo, but he’s a big boy and with some rest and proper handling, he should be fine. Hopefully he doesn’t throw any more than 20 if he throws at all on Sat. Bochy will take good care of him and install the committee system.

Foothills Ryan

They had one thing in common,
they were good in bed
She’d say, ‘Faster, faster’
The lights are turnin’ red…

Foothills Ryan

CC, I don’t drink enough to get hangovers. Just 1 or two drinks, enough for a buzz is all I need. Know when to say when.

Foothills Ryan

CC, way off topic, but

any special tricks for cleaning HPLC guard columns? I’m running MeSO4 in reverse. New GC’s on order.

channelclemente

Foothills,

Man, I never cleaned them, ever…I just repacked them. Too big a risk, IMO, trying to de-muck one. If you repack, be sure and put a new fret (S) in, it’s a false economy to save a fret. BTW, they are really easy to dry pack. Just remember to vibrate and crown the phase before you bolt them back together. If they’re still around, Valco (VICI) used to have a little kit, and they, of course have all the fittings.

Woj

Go USA baseball! Too bad Romo didn’t reach the 30 pitch maximum. Best to shut him down this early. I could care less what he does for Mexico, I only care about what he does for the Giants. And why are Romo and Adrian Gonzalez playing for Mexico anyways? His birth country is the U.S., he is a U.s. citizen and he should be wearing the red/white/and blue.

Anti-Lasorda

So she tells him she must go out for the evening
To comfort an old friend who’s feelin’ down
But he knows where she’s goin’ as she’s leavin’
She is headed for the cheatin’ side of town

channelclemente

An EXCELLENT article from the A’s approach to “analytics” and philosophy.

“We try to analyze skill, not results. Ultimately, what you want in an advance report isn’t batting average on fastball counts. You want something more along the lines of skill level, like how often a guy makes hard contact on a fastball on an 0-1 count. That approach is very applicable in this area.”

Skill level is batting plane and swing characteristics, among other metrics. They’ve pretty much abandoned summative stats in acquisition/player analysis. They’re stats guy, Farhan Zaidi is a Ph.D. economist out of Cal. They are sophisticated.

That’s our Zeets !! Possible indication that order has been restored in the universe.

South City Jim

Have these people ever heard of doppler weather radar? Because of the delay Zito and Lilly probably finish their work on the side.

While E. CB – Dodger Hater

Real question. Where can I found out how much money actually gets to the kids in the Jr. Giants program, versus being spent on administration salaries? United Way commercials and athletes showing up for ten minutes to give a talk to a group of kids so they can lower their taxes has left me somewhat jaded when considering sports related charities. I know I sound cold heated but I really am not. I just don’t want my donations going to the director of Jr. Giants.

South City Jim

Hey, now that the game is rained out, Zito’s stats are wiped off the books. heh,heh,heh

While E. CB – Dodger Hater

cold heated = cold-hearted.

South City Jim

Don’t know CB but I recently donated a car to them.

channelclemente

E.CB.

there is a Federal Database, because they are a non profit I assume, that you can find online. It’s part of the PUBLIC tax filing they must make to have nonprofit status.

Ugggh. Hello from Scottsdale. We’d been following the weather forecast all week and flew to Phoenix fully expecting today’s game to be called. Landed and saw that it was on! Cab to the hotel, dumped the bags, walked to park just in time for the game.

We waited out the first two delays and bailed on the third. We figured the game would be called momentarily, and it was. Back to the hotel, cold and soaking wet. It was HAILING during the second delay. We should have all gotten a Croix de Candlestick!

At least we get a refund on the tickets, and happy hour starts in half an hour. Hoping for better luck tomorrow!

Foothills Ryan

What’s the good doctor drinkin’?

I understand that…

“Molitov Cocktail is the local drink…”

Foothills Ryan

What’s the good doctor drinkin’?

I understand that…

“Molotov Cokktail is the local drink…”

South City Jim

I still can’t believe they start a game like this. Donny Baseball has his prized possession out in CF playing on a rain soaked field following a year of hamstring issues. Very strange. To me, you look at the doppler and you ask both managers “…at best it’s going to be start and stop, should we start?” And they should reply “no”.

Had this happened, Lefty would have been able to get settled in her room and headed straight for the bar.